Houstonians still have to wait another 14 months before putting bottles or bags in their green curbside bins, however, while the city's chosen contractor builds a new processing facility.

To bridge the gap, the city plans to renegotiate its existing, costlier recycling agreement, which expires in April.

"From a financial point of view, it is a much better deal for the city of Houston," Mayor Sylvester Turner said, praising the deal with the Spanish firm FCC. "In terms of technology, it meets what our needs are and what we have asked for."

Recycling has been a source of contention since Turner took office two years ago, when plunging commodities markets made recycling more expensive.

Rather than inking a new, four-year agreement with Waste Management, which has long processed Houston's recyclables, the city in 2016 struck a two-year deal with the waste giant that eliminated glass from curbside recycling.

To address longer-term recycling needs, Turner last June brought forward a 20-year, $48 million proposal from FCC.

However, fierce criticism of the procurement process led the mayor to seek a new round of offers.

FCC again came out on top, this time with a cheaper proposal: Houston would pay a maximum of $19 per ton to process recyclables in a weak commodities market, and would recover a larger share of the revenue if prices for recycled material improved.

Still, some council members questioned the city's evaluation processes, which put FCC on top even though other firms argued they would have been ready to process materials sooner and cheaper.

At-large Councilman Mike Knox reiterated some of those worries Wednesday before voting against the $37 million FCC contract.

"I would just like to see this whole thing start over from the beginning and do it properly. Much of the scoring on both the first and second go-arounds was subjective in nature," Knox said. "I just don't believe that this is the right thing to do in this manner."

At-large Councilman Michael Kubosh and District A Councilwoman Brenda Stardig joined Knox in opposing the deal. District F Councilman Steve Le, District G Councilman Greg Travis and District J Councilman Mike Laster were absent for the vote.

Turner defended the recycling procurement as "more rigorous" than usual.

"We just didn't go with the first round. We went back for a best and final the second round," he said. "The first round — pretty much all of the information was put out in public, so we asked people to bid against themselves."

District E Councilman Dave Martin, who previously complained about a lack of transparency in the procurement process, came around in time for the vote.

"I think it's probably the most economically feasible deal for the city of Houston," Martin said.

Meanwhile, Rosanne Barone, Houston program director for the advocacy group Texas Campaign for the Environment, lauded the city for "heading in the right direction" on recycling.

"This shows the mayor is committed to continuing moving forward to make the city of Houston more sustainable. We're so happy glass is going to be back, and so happy and surprised and excited that plastic bags are now going to be included," Barone said. "The next step is just to keep moving forward: To keep including more materials, to expand curbside pickup to apartments and businesses."

Its agreement with FCC finalized, the city now is working to renegotiate an agreement with Waste Management, its current curbside recycling provider, to continue picking up recyclables until FCC's facility is operational.

"I'm hoping that it won't significantly increase," Turner said of Houston's recycling costs during that time. "We're negotiating. We'll see what happens."

Rebecca Elliott covers City Hall for the Houston Chronicle, having previously written about local politics, namely the 2015 Houston mayor’s race. She joined the Chronicle in 2014 as a crime and general assignment reporter in Fort Bend County. A New York City native, she also has reported on politics for Reuters, POLITICO and BuzzFeed.